5  1954 


Charleston  (S.C).  French 

Protestant  Church. 
The  French  Protestant  church 

m  the  city  of  Charleston 


NOVlfl  1918 


THE  FRENCH  PROTESTANT  CHURCH 

/ 

IN  THE  CITY  OF  CHARLESTON 


"The  Huguenot  Church' 


A  BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 

AND 

TWO  ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED  ON  THE 

TWO   HUNDRED   AND  TWENTY-FIFTH  ANNIVERSARY  OF 
THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  CHURCH.  APRIL  FOUR- 
TEENTH.  NINETEEN   HUNDRED 
AND   TWELVE 


J^SC> 


WALKEK,  EVANS  «  COQSWELL  CO.,  CHARLESTON.  S.  C. 
1912 


I'  //      ^*f^^ 


A 


THE   FRENCH   PROTESTANT  CHURCH 

IN  THE  CITY  OF  CHARLESTON 

The  Huguenot  Church" 

A  BRIEF  HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH 

AND 

TWO  ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED  ON  THE 

TWO    HUNDRED   AND   TWENTY-FIFTH  ANNIVERSARY    OF 
THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  CHURCH,  APRIL  FOUR- 
TEENTH,   NINETEEN    HUNDRED 
AND   TWELVE 


NOV  16    I91R 


)M  s:;  ;^^ 


^ 


WALKER,    EVANS  «.  COGSWELL  CO.,  CHARLESTON,  S.  C. 
1912 


w 


THE    FRENCH    PROTESTANT    CHURCH 

IN  THE  CITY  OF  CHARLESTON 

"THE  HUGUENOT  CHURCH" 


The  congregation  worshipping  at  the  corner  of 
Church  and  Queen  Streets,  in  the  City  of  Charles- 
ton, vSouth  CaroHna,  represents  today,  as  it  has 
done  for  perhaps  a  century,  the  only  Huguenot 
Church  in  all  America  which  continues  its  dis- 
tinctive service.  The  adherents  of  this  church 
had  grown  strong  and  self-sustaining  by  the 
year  1687.  But,  although  we  know  that  the 
Huguenots  in  the  first  few  years  of  their  resi- 
dence in  the  Province  of  Carolina  had  established 
four,  and  probably  five,  churches  between  the 
Santee  River  and  the  coast,  yet  only  this  con- 
gregation held  together  beyond  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century;  while  at  least  two  of 
the  country  churches  resigned  their  separate 
existence  soon  after  the  year  1700. 

The  first  colony  on  the  Carolina  coast  was 
planted  by  Huguenots  under  Jean  Ribault,  in 
1562.  This  settlement  failed,  but  after  the 
lapse  of  a  hundred  years,  when  Carolina  had 
begun  to  fill  up  as  an  English  Province,  we 
again  find  Huguenots  migrating,  and  they  were, 
indeed,  the  first  people  to  preach  the  Gospel  in 
the  country  districts  around  Charleston. 

But  when  an  emigrant  pastor  died  there  was 
always  difficulty  in  securing  a  successor,  while 
the  people  had  to  meet  the  terrible  ravages  of  a 
malarial  climate,  whose  diseases  they  had  not  the 
means  or  knowledge  to  combat.     The  mortahty 


at  Jamestown,  on  the  Santee  River,  one  of  the 
principal  settlements,  was  so  great  that  it  had 
soon  to  be  abandoned.  Then  there  were  the 
troubles  of  new  and  untried  conditions,  with  lack 
of  roads  and  easy  means  of  transportation,  and 
the  absence  of  many  facilities  of  life. 

The  congregations  had  to  care  for  a  percentage 
of  very  poor  members,  and  even  those  who  had 
been  rich  in  France  had  generally  escaped  with 
the  loss  of  their  estates.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Church  Act  of  1706,  established  the  Church 
of  England,  giving  it  permanence  and  support 
from  the  public  funds,  and  at  the  same  time 
placing  other  religious  bodies  under  some  dis- 
abilities. 

Episcopal  ministers  were  sent  out  from  Eng- 
land, and  in  order  to  attract  the  refugees,  the 
English  service  was  translated  into  French,  and 
many  pious  families,  availing  themselves  of 
church  privileges  which  were  thus  rendered  more 
regular  and  stable  than  their  own,  ultimately 
became  affiliated  with  the  Episcopal  communion. 

The  absorption  of  the  Carolina  Huguenots 
was  not  different  from  the  experience  of  their 
brethren  elsewhere.  Half  a  century  ago,  it  was 
stated  by  a  careful  enquirer,  that  only  two 
Huguenot  Churches  were  then  to  be  found  in 
England,  although  so  many  thousands  of  exiled 
French  had  taken  root  there. 

Notwithstanding  the  large  migration  of  French 
protestants  to  Virginia  and  New  York,  and  the 
considerable  settlements  made  by  them  in  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts  and  North 
Carolina,  as  early  as  1836  the  church  in  Charles- 
ton had  the  distinction  of  being  the  sole  survivor 
in  America. 

But  the  church  and  its  records  have  had  a 
vicissitudinous   history.     Twice    are   its   records 


known  to  have  been  lost.  In  1740  a  conflagra- 
tion visited  Charleston,  and  though  the  church 
itself  was  not  burnt,  the  archives,  which  were 
probably  at  some  officer's  home,  were  destroyed, 
leaving  considerable  breaks  in  our  knowledge  of 
the  previous  history  of  the  organization. 

Again,  during  the  War  between  the  States, 
when  Charleston  had  become  unsafe,  a  box  of 
invaluable  records,  and  the  eommunion  service 
were  sent  to  Cheraw,  in  the  interior,  for  safe- 
keeping, but,  after  the  Federal  army  had  visited 
the  town,  in  1865,  no  trace  of  the  property  could 
ever  be  obtained.  This  is  published  in  the  dim 
hope  that  it  may  be  seen  by  some  one  who  can 
aid  in  the  discovery  of  the  lost  treasure. 

On  June  13,  1796,  during  what  is  called  by  old 
writers  "a  great  fire"  in  Charleston,  the  French 
Church  itself  was  blown  up  in  an  unsuccessful 
effort  to  arrest  the  flames,  but  the  church  books 
are  not  supposed  to  have  been  lost  on  that 
occasion. 

Mr.  Daniel  Ravenel  (1789-1873)  had  pre- 
pared a  history  of  the  church,  supported  by 
many  valuable  documents  and  publications,  prior 
to  the  War  between  the  States,  but  its  publica- 
tion was  interrupted,  and  when  he  resumed  the 
work  after  the  War,  so  much  had  been  lost,  that 
he  could  make  only  a  partial  restoration.  This 
post-bellum  paper  was  published  by  the  Hugue- 
not Society  of  South  Carolina  in  1900,  in  Trans- 
actions No.  7. 

It  is  practically  certain  that  the  first  pastor 
of  the  Huguenots  in  Charleston  was  the  Rev. 
Elias  Prioleau,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  as 
pastor  of  a  large  flock  in  Pons,  in  Bretagne, 
where,  during  a  short  but  heroic  career,  he  and 
his  congregation  had  been  in  constant  peril.  His 
church  was  torn  down  on  April  15,  1685,  in  the 


violent  persecutions  attendant  upon  the  revo- 
cation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  he  came  to 
Carolina  followed  by  a  large  portion  of  his 
people,  and  served  the  Charleston  church  until 
his  death  in  the  Fall  of  1699.  He  seems  for 
a  time  to  have  been  assisted  by  Rev.  Florent 
Philipe  Trouillard,  who  subsequently  removed 
to  St.  John's,  Berkeley,  to  serve  one  or  more 
of  the  country  churches. 

The  form  of  government  of  the  French  church 
is  Presbyterian,  although  the  service  is  liturgical. 
Its  confession  is  said  to  have  been  the  work  of 
Calvin  himself,  and  was  adopted  by  the  first 
Synod  in  France,  assembled  at  Paris  in  1559, 
under  the  title  "Confession  de  Foi,  faite  d'un 
commun  accord  par  les  Eglises  Reformees  du 
Roy aume  de  France."  The  liturgy  is  translated 
from  that  of  the  churches  in  the  principalities  of 
Neufchatel  and  Vallangin,  from  their  second 
edition,  published  in  1737,  with  some  minor 
adaptations  to  local  needs. 

The  refugees  brought  with  them  the  hymns  of 
Clement  Marot  and  Theodore  de  Beze,  which  in 
the  lapse  of  time,  have  given  way  to,  and  have 
been  supplemented  by,  books  containing  the 
more  modern  poetry  of  Christian  worship  and 
praise. 

On  the  walls  of  the  Huguenot  Church,  in 
Charleston,  are  a  number  of  monuments  of 
unusual  beauty  and  historic  value.  The  limits 
of  this  notice  forbid  quotations,  but  memo- 
rials of  such  families  as  Gourdin,  Prioleau, 
Ravenel,  Porcher,  de  Saussure,  Huger,  Mazyck, 
Lanier,  all  repay  inspection,  while  more  recently 
the  corporation  has  allowed  the  insertion  in 
the  interior  walls,  under  certain  conditions,  of 
plain  marble  stones,  of  fixed  size,  inscribed 
with  only  the  name,  location  and  date.     Among 


these  stones  we  see — de  la  Plaine,  Bacot,  Maury, 
Gaillard,  Meserole,  Macon,  Gabeau,  Cazenove, 
Iv'Hommedieu,  L'espenard,  Serre.  Marquand, 
Bayard,  Boudouin,  Marion,  Laurens,  Boudinot, 
Gibert,  Robert,  Fontaine,  and  others  whose 
descendants  have  embraced  this  opportunity  to 
memorialize  their  ancestors. 

Many  stones  in  the  ancient  burial-ground 
surrounding  the  church  also  have  a  story  for 
the  visitor. 

Following  the  blowing  up  of  the  church  dur- 
ing the  fire  of  1796,  a  new  building  was  erected 
in  the  year  1800,  but  by  that  time  many  of  the 
younger  people,  and  others  who  might  desire 
to  unite,  were  unfamiliar  with  French  and  could 
not  enjoy  the  services,  so  that  attendance  fell 
very  low  in  the  early  part  of  the  century — 
indeed,  the  church  almost  died.  But  in  the 
year  1828  steps  were  taken  for  a  permanent 
change  to  English,  and  Messrs.  Elias  Horry, 
Joseph  Manigault,  WilHam  Mazyck,  vSr.,  George 
W.  Cross,  Daniel  Ravenel,  Thomas  S.  Grimke 
and  William  M.  Frazer  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  translate  the  liturgy  from  French  to 
English. 

The  committee  did  its  important  work  well 
and  deliberately,  and  a  final  report  having  been 
submitted,  the  book  containing  the  version  of 
the  confession,  and  the  various  parts  of  the 
service  now  in  use,  was  first  printed  as  a  whole 
in   1836,  and  revised  in   1853. 

The  church  having  been  revived,  it  was  de- 
cided to  take  down  the  building  of  the  year  1800, 
and  the  beautiful  structure,  represented  by  the 
sketch  at  the  head  of  this  paper,  was  erected,  and 
was  dedicated  on  May  11,  1845. 

The  congregation  was  fortunate  in  securing 
the  ministry  of  Rev.   Charles  W.  Howard,   and 


with  the  newly  translated  liturgy,  the  attractive 
new  building,  and  the  drawing  power  of  Mr. 
Howard's  personality  and  preaching,  such  an 
impetus  was  given  and  so  many  accessions  made 
to  the  roll,  that  serious  consideration  was  given 
to  the  question  of  enlarging  the  church  to  accom- 
modate the  congregation. 

From  the  completion  of  the  church  to  the 
beginning  of  the  War  between  the  States  was, 
however,  only  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  and  when 
the  War  ended,  four  years  later,  Charleston, 
with  her  churches,  her  banks,  her  schools,  and 
all  her  cherished  institutions  had  felt  its  wither- 
ing touch. 

There  were  then  left  very  few  persons  of 
means  whose  devotion  and  liberality  maintained 
the  church,  but  these  are  all  dead;  other  adherents 
have  removed  from  the  city,  and  the  congrega- 
tion has  at  last  become  so  small  that  it  cannot 
sustain  the  church.  It  is  also  unable  adequately 
to  support  the  venerable  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Charles  vS.  Vedder,  D.  D.,  LL-  D.,  and  still  is  it 
less  able  to  supply  him  with  an  assistant  so 
greatly  needed  now,  when  after  forty-six  years 
ministry  he  remains  faithful  to  duty,  and  though 
stricken  by  blindness,  conducts  the  entire  ser- 
vice from  memory. 

The  two  hundred  and  twenty-fifth  anniver- 
sary of  the  founding  of  the  Huguenot  Church  on 
the  present  site  was  celebrated  with  much  dis- 
tinction on  April  14,  1912,  when  able  discourses 
were  preached;  in  the  morning  by  Dr.  Vedder, 
and  at  night  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  S.  Demarest, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  President  of  Rutgers  College, 
New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  himself  of  Hugue- 
not name  and  lineage. 

The  large  attendance  at  both  of  these  services 
would  lead  the  visitor  to  believe  that  there  must 


be  interest  enough  in  Charleston  for  the  abundant 
support  of  the  church,  and  with  outside  encour- 
agement there  is  a  field  for  hope  of  usefulness. 
When  the  present  edifice  was  opened  in  1845, 
there  were  but  seventeen  persons  who  would 
definitely  unite  and  pledge  themselves  to  attend. 
Therefore,  this  sketch  is  sent  out  for  the  informa- 
tion of  all  who  wish  to  know  tiie  true  condition 
of  the  church,  and  who  are  interested  in  its 
preservation.  It  goes  forth  with  mingled  feel- 
ings of  pride  and  humiliation.  Pride  in  the 
heritage  and  history  of  the  church,  humiliation 
that  aid  is  asked  to  preserve  it.  But  so  wide- 
spread has  been  the  kindly  expression  of  inter- 
est, and  so  generous  the  attitude  of  some  of  its 
outside  friends,  that  its  officers  cannot  justify 
themselves  in  allowing  this  church  to  perish 
without  inviting  co-operation  from  all  interested 
in  its  preservation,  embracing  workers  and 
leaders  in  every  branch  of  thought  and  activity 
who  look  back  with  pride  to  Huguenot  forbears. 
The  historical  appeal  is  strong  enough,  when 
we  remember  that  the  first  child  born  in  New 
York  City  was  Jean  Vigne.  and  the  first  in 
Albany,  New  York,  was  Sarah  Rappelyea, 
children  of  Huguenot  parents,  and  that  in  the 
year  1610  one-fourth  of  the  population  of  New 
York  City  was  Huguenot:  and  when  we  assem- 
ble before  the  mind  the  noble  tributes  to  the 
Huguenot  character  and  its  contribution  to 
American  life,  by  George  Bancroft,  John  Esten 
Cooke,  and  the  host  of  historical  and  religious 
writers. 

But  the  historical  appeal  alone  would  not 
justify  the  keeping  open  of  a  house  dedicated  to 
God.  If  it  awakens  any  holy  religious  sentiment, 
any  reverence  for  a  faith  consecrated  by  suf- 
fering, any  tenderness  for  forefathers  who  sacri- 


ficed  home,  country,  fortune,  and  even  life 
for  the  sake  of  principle;  and  if  we  can  also 
believe  that  in  the  twentieth  century  this  little 
temple  may  have  a  work  to  do,  then  let  these 
words  fall  on  open  ears. 

Let  us  close  with  the  benediction  used  by 
the  soldiers  at  the  siege  of  La  Rochelle  and  called 
the  "Huguenot  Benediction": — 

"The  love  of  our  good  God  and  Father,  the 
grace,  peace  and  favor  of  our  Lord,  Jesus  Christ, 
through  the  communion  of  His  Holy  vSpirit,  rest 
upon  us  and  all  His  church  forever.     Amen." 


^^^T  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Corpb- 
^%  \\  ration  of  The  French  Protestant 
^^  IJ  Church,  in  the  City  of  Charleston, 
-^  held  January  8th,  1912,  the  follow 
ing  resolutions  were  offered: 

"While  we  do  not  know  the  exact  date  of 
the  establishing  of  the  Huguenot  Church  in 
the  City  of  Charleston,  still  we  have  docu- 
mentary evidence  of  its  existence  in   1687. 

Therefore;  be  it  resolved,  that,  this  being 
the  two  hundred  and  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
of  its  recorded  existence,  a  celebration  be  made 
with  befitting  services. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  that  a  committee  be 
appointed  by  the  chair  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  this  celebration." 

These  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted 
and  the  chairman  appointed  the  following  com- 
mittee: Mr.  Daniel  Ravenel,  Chairman;  Rev. 
Dr.  C.  S.  Vedder,  Mr.  H.  E.  Ravenel,  Mr. 
J.  R.  P.  Ravenel,  Mr.  F.  G.  Ravenel  and  Mr. 
Isaac  Hammond. 

A  meeting  of  the  congregation  was  held  at 
a  later  date  in  the  Huguenot  Church.  At  this 
meeting  the  congregation  unanimously  ex- 
pressed their  approval  regarding  the  celebra- 
tion. It  was  suggested  that  four  ladies  of  the 
congregation  be  added  to  the  General  Com- 
mittee. The  Chairman  appointed  Mrs.  A.  A. 
Palmer,  Miss  C.  P.  Ravenel,  Mrs.  Philip  Chazal 
and  Miss  Lena  Logan. 

The  orator  chosen  for  the  occasion  was  the 
Rev.  W.  H.  S.  Demarest,  D.  D.,  LL-  D.,  President 
of  Rutgers  College,  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey, 
a  devoted  descendant  of  his  Huguenot  forbears. 

Letters  and  telegrams  of  congratulation  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  were  received  by  Dr. 
Vedder  and  the  Committee. 


to  that  God,  who,  through  tribulation  and 
loss  of  all  else,  brought  them  to  this  land  of 
religious  liberty.  Of  those  Huguenots,  who 
settled  outside  of  Charles  Town,  we  have  con- 
temporary proof  of  the  purity  of  their  lives 
and  the  harmony  in  which  they  dwelt. 

Lawson,  the  Surveyor-general  of  North  Caro- 
lina, at  that  time  visited  one  of  these  colonies, 
and  his  description  is  that  of  a  people  among 
whom  "the  welfare  of  all  was  the  care  of  each." 
A  simple  incident  has  come  down  to  us  of  a 
resident  of  one  of  these  colonies  who  had  gone 
in  his  boat  to  Charles  Town,  and  whose  delayed 
return  was  a  matter  of  great  anxiety  to  his 
friends  and  co-religionists.  They  feared  that 
something  had  happened  to  him.  When  the 
congregation  assembled  on  the  Lord's  Day 
morning,  the  pastor,  who  from  the  pulpit  could 
see  down  to  the  shore,  suddenly  paused  in  his 
sermon  and  cried;  "There  is  Monsieur  Gendron," 
and  the  pastor,  followed  by  the  whole  congrega- 
tion, adjourned  the  services,  and  went  to  the 
shore  to  welcome  their  brother. 

But  long  before  these  Huguenots  had  scat- 
tered to  other  parts  of  America,  there  were 
Huguenot  settlements  in  Massachusetts,  New 
York  and  Virginia.  Among  the  passengers  by 
the  "Mayflower,"  which  landed  in  Plymouth, 
in  1620,  was  Priscilla;  the  Priscilla  of  romance 
and  poetry,  the  typical  Puritan  maiden,  and  her 
father,  William  Molines. 

In  New  York  City  as  early  as  perhaps  1610, 
the  Huguenots  constituted  one-fourth  of  the 
population  of  the  city.  They  had  their  church 
within  the  walls  of  the  fortress.  That  church 
continued  until  1707,  when  it  became  absorbed 
in  the  Episcopal  Church.  Peter  Stuyvesant, 
Governor  of  New  York,  married  Judith  Bayard, 


a  Huguenot;  and  Minuit,  Lieutenant-Governor, 
was  a  Huguenot. 

In  Virginia  the  colony  of  Huguenots  was 
formed,  of  whom  John  Esten  Cooke,  the  historian, 
says,  they  diffused  an  element  of  lofty  character 
throughout  all  the  community  in  which  they 
lived.  Everywhere  the  Huguenot  secured  a 
position  of  prominence  all  out  of  proportion  to 
their  numbers. 

John  Jay  was  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  the 
United  vStates,  and  Elias  Boudinot  the  first 
President  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

The  part  which  South  Carolina  had  in  giving 
great  names  to  American  history  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  Henry  Laurens  was  the  first  President 
of  the  Continental  Congress.  His  son,  John 
Laurens,  the  idol  of  the  American  Army,  received 
the  sword  of  Lord  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown, 
while  Henry  Laurens,  his  father,  was  prisoner  in 
the  Tower  of  Londo-n,  of  which  Lord  CornwalHs 
wa's  titular  lieutenant. 

General  Francis  Marion,  with  his  lieutenant, 
Ehas  Horry,  and  their  faithful  partisans,  made 
possible  the  surrender  of  the  British  arms  and 
the  failure  of  the  British  cause  at  Yorktown. 
Gabriel  Manigault  loaned  to  the  Continental 
Congress  $220,000.  All  of  these  were  Huguenots. 
This  present  church  edifice  in  Charleston  is 
the  only  one  which  survives,  whilst  all  its  sister 
churches  in  the  country  were  absorbed  by  the 
estabhshed  Church  of  England.  It  continued 
its  automony  amid  many  difficulties  and  dis- 
abilities. Four  churches,  successively,  stood  on 
the  spot  whereon  we  now  stand.  Owing  to  the  fact 
that  pastors  could  only  be  secured  from  abroad, 
the  services  of  the  church  were  often  interrupted 
and  the  sanctuary  unoccupied.  During  this 
time  many  of  its  members  found  place  in  other 


churches,  where  their  descendants  are  prominent 
today.  The  present  church  building  was  erected 
in  1845. 

The  Hturgy  of  the  Church  was  that  of  the 
Swiss  churches  of  Neufchatel  and  Valangin, 
which  was  translated,  together  with  the  "Confes- 
sion of  Faith,"  by  a  committee  of  eminent  gentle- 
men. The  trial  service  was  held,  and  the  liturgy 
was  so  approved  that  it  has  ever  since  been  used. 
The  government  of  the  Church  is  by  a  bench  of 
elders.  The  spirit  of  the  Church  is  wholly 
evangelical. 

The  present  church  is  a  center  of  great  interest 
to  tourists  visiting  Charleston,  and  they  cannot 
understand  why  this  historic  sanctuary  lacks  so 
much  of  that  sympathy  which  ought  to  be 
assured;  but  those  who  remain  faithful  to  its 
traditions  are  proud  and  happy  in  their  attach- 
ment to  the  church  of  their  fathers.  The  Church 
continues  isolated,  not  from  any  lack  of  unity 
and  sympathy  with  other  churches,  but  because 
its  merger  in  any  other  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion would  be  at  the  expense  of  its  memorial 
or  monumental  character. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  French  Revolution  of 
1848,  with  which  Charleston  was  in  the  deepest 
sympathy,  a  procession  was  formed,  at  the  head 
of  which  were  all  the  dignitaries  of  State,  and 
the  French  Consul  at  Charleston.  As  it  passed 
this  edifice,  the  procession  halted,  tho  French 
Consul  dipped  the  flag  of  France,  and  all  un- 
covered before  this  sacred  fane;  the  proces- 
sion passed  to  St.  Philip's  Church,  where  the 
oration  was  delivered  by  the  pastor  of  the  Hugue- 
not Church.  Facts  like  these  are  of  interest  on 
an  occasion  like  the  present. 

A  recent  writer,  whose  work  of  liction  has  its 
scene  in  Charleston  and  whose  book  has  excited 


great  interest,  speaks  of  the  memories  which 
this  church  enshrines.  He  speaks  of  other 
churches,  and  then  says  of  the  French  Church, 
that  it  is:  "The  one  of  all  these  that  holds  the 
most  precious  flame,  the  purest  light;  which 
treasures  the  holy  fires  which  came  from  France. 
It  was  for  liberty  of  soul,  to  lift  their  ardent  and 
exalted  prayer  to  God,  as  their,  own  conscience 
bade  them,  and  not  as  any  man  dictated,  that 
those  French  colonists  sought  the  New  World. 
No  Puritan  splendor  of  independence  and  indomi- 
table courage  outshines  theirs.  They  preached 
a  word  as  burning  as  any  that  Plymouth  or 
Salem  ever  heard.  They  were  but  a  handful, 
yet  so  fecund  was  their  marvelous  zeal  that  they 
became  the  spiritual  leaven  of  their  whole  com- 
munity. They  are  less  known  than  Plymouth  or 
Salem,  because  men  of  action  rather  than  men  of 
letters  have  sprung  from  the  loins  of  the  South. 
They  stand  a  beautiful  beacon  shining  upon  the 
coast  of  our  early  history." 

There  is  a  feature  of  the  spirit  of  the  Hugue- 
nots, who  accepted  banishment  from  their  own 
land,  which  ought  not  to  be  unmentioned.  It 
was  the  love  they  still  held  for  the  land  that 
cast  them  out.  An  admired  American  poetess, 
Mrs.  Sigourney,  on  visiting  the  ruins  of  a  Hugue- 
not Church  in  Massachusetts,  was  shown  a  vine 
which  the  French  Protestants  had  brought  with 
them  to  Oxford,  where  a  monument  now  stands 
to  commemorate  the  Huguenot  settlement  at 
that  place.  Mrs  Sigourney  apostrophizes  this 
memento  of  the  patriotic  love  of  the  exiled  sons 
of  France. 


"Green  vine,  who  manliest  in  th\    frc.-h  embrace 

Yon  old  grey  rock, 
I  hear  that  thou,  with  them,  didst  brave  the  ocean  surge! 

Hast  thou  no  tale  for  me? 
Drank  thy  germ  the  dews  of  Languedoc? 

Or  slow  uncoiled  thine  infant  fibre  in 
The  fruitful  moulds  of  smiling  Rousillon? 
Or  didst  thou  shrink  from  the  harsh  tread  of  martial  men, 
Brother  fighting  with  brother  unto  death  in  La  Rochelle? 

Hast  thou  no  tale  for  me?" 

Yes,  it  had  a  "tale"  for  all!  A  "tale"  that 
told  of  the  unalterable  love  for  the  mother-land, 
which  had  denied  them  every  right  of  conscience, 
life  and  liberty — an  unchangeable  love  which 
reproduced  in  the  new  world  the  beloved  names 
of  the  homes  from  which  they  had  been  banished 
in  the  old. 

Our  church  contains  tablets  to  prominent 
names  among  the  original  emigrants,  and  more 
than  fifty  smaller  tablets  to  eminent  Huguenots 
throughout  the  land.  There  is  one  beautiful 
stained  window,  the  history  of  which  will  be 
preserved.  Some  years  ago  the  pastor  of  the 
church  received  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  Elihu 
B .  Washburne  asking  how  he  could  commemorate 
in  our  church  his  wife,  who  was  a  grand-daughter 
of  General  Gratiot,  of  General  Marion's  force. 
Mr.  Washburne  had  been  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  United  States,  and  was  our  ambassador  to 
Paris  during  the  horrors  of  the  Commune.  He 
was  told  that  the  walls  were  already  covered 
with  tablets,  but  that  place  could  be  made  for 
a  stained  window.  He  replied  by  securing  such 
a  window  and  having  it  erected,  but  before  it 
could  be  placed  in  position  Mr.  Washburne  him- 
self had  died. 

I  am  asked  to  speak  something  with  regard  to 
my    pastorate    in    the    Church.     I    do    this   less 


reluctantly,  because,  what  shall  be  said  will 
pertain  more  to  the  Church  than  to  myself. 
When,  forty-six  years  ago,  the  present  pastorate 
was  instituted,  the  South  was  in  the  throes  of 
what  is  known  as  Reconstruction,  when  this 
grand  old  vState  was  harried  throughout  all  its 
extent  by  organized  brigandage.  In  this  ordeal, 
Charleston  was,  perhaps,  the  principal  sufferer. 
In  common,  with  most  of  the  churches  of  the  city, 
our  church  was  largely  depleted  of  its  members, 
and  deprived  of  its  means  of  support,  but  those 
who  remained  were  unfaltering  in  their  determina- 
tion to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  endeared 
sanctuary  of  their  pious  ancestors. 

In  his  opening  sermon,  the  pastor  took  as  his 
text,  the  question  of  St.  Peter  to  Cornelius,  "I 
ask  therefore  to  what  intent  thou  hast  sent  for 
me?"  The  answer,  which  he  gave  to  the  ques- 
tion then,  is  the  same  as  he  has  sought  to  give 
through  all  the  years  since;  namely,  to  preach 
Christ  crucified.  He  remembers,  so  vividly,  the 
congregation  over  which  he  first  looked  on  that 
far-off  day,  that  it  requires  no  serious  effort  of 
th  imagination  to  re-people  these  pews  with 
those  who  then  occupied  them,  and  who  have 
passed  to  the  life  beyond.  He  has  baptized 
three  generations,  and  received  them  into  the 
communion  of  the  Church. 

While  life  lasts  with  him  it  will  retain  endeared 
memories  of  saintly  women  and  noble  men  who 
then  greeted  him. 

Of  the  pastorate  who  were  in  charge  of 
Charleston  churches  forty-six  years  ago,  one  sur- 
vives, Rev.  Dr.  John  T.  Wightman,  of  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  who  though  in  his  eighty-seventh 
year,  continues  to  preach  the  same  Gospel  which 
he  proclaimed  and  exemplified  here.  All  the 
others  have  passed  away.     The  Rev.  Dr.  John 


Forrest,  Rev.  Paul  Trapier  Keith,  Dr.  William 
C.  Dana,  Dr.,  afterwards  Bishop,  W.  B.  W. 
Howe,  Dr.  Thomas  Smythe,  Dr.  Charles  Cotes- 
worth  Pinckney,  Dr.  John  L-  Girardeau,  Dr. 
A.  Toomer  Porter,  the  revered  and  honored 
Dr.  John  Bachman,  Dr.  William  S.  Bowman, 
Dr.  Edwin  T.  Winkler,  the  ideal  Seaman's 
Chaplain  William  B.  Yates,  Dr.  A.  W.  Mar- 
shall, Dr.  E-  J.  Meynardie,  and  others  of 
the  Methodist  Church,  earnest  and  faithful 
men.  And  among  those,  whose  memory  is  still 
like  ointment  poured  forth,  was  Christopher 
Philip  Gadsden,  beloved  Rector  of  vSt.  Luke's. 
Bishop  Lynch  then  presided  over  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  South  Carolina,  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  my  good  and  dear  friend,  Harry  Pinck- 
ney Northrop. 

Although  this  Church  has  been  always  ex- 
clusive in  its  character,  and  measurably  isolated 
in  its  relation  to  other  ecclesiastical  bodies,  it 
has  abounded  in  works  of  beneficence  and  in 
types  of  exalted  character.  The  senior  elder  of 
this  Church,  when  the  present  pastorate  was 
formed  was  one  of  whom  Hugh  Swinton  Legare 
said:  "Daniel  Ravenel,  ten  such  men  would 
save  a  city."  One  of  the  most  beautiful  crea- 
tions of  fiction  is  Charles  Dickens'  protraiture  of 
the  Cheeryble  brothers.  It  was  left  to  this 
church  to  make  that  ideal  real  in  the  character 
of  the  two  brothers,  Henry  and  Robert  Gourdin. 
Time  would  fail  to  tell  of  what  this  church  has 
done  in  elevating  and  exemplifying  nobility  of 
life  and  spirit.  But  one  instance  more  cannot 
be  withheld.  When  this  church  was  nearly 
shaken  down  by  the  earthquake,  and  its  means 


of  restoration  apparently  beyond  reach,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  elders,  to  consult  as  to  what 
should  be  done,  one  of  their  number,  a  graduate 
of  West  Point,  who  had  served  in  three  wars, 
and  was  as  truly  a  Soldier  of  the  Cross,  as  he  had 
been  of  the  country,  proposed  that  we  should 
roof  over  the  church,  and  hold  our  services  in 
the  partially  destroyed  edifice  as  our  Huguenot 
fathers  had  done  in  the  caves  and  fastnesses  of 
France.  Fortunately,  the  necessity  to  do  this 
was  avoided,  by  the  generous  munificence  of  Mr. 
Charles  Lanier,  of  New  York  City,  who  furnished 
the  means  by  which  the  church  edifice  was 
rehabilitated.  It  was  a  member  of  this  church 
and  her  sister,  who,  almost  unaided,  wrought, 
what,  to  me,  was  the  most  beautiful  example  of 
patriotic  devotion  elicited  in  the  War  between 
the  States;  namely,  the  removal  of  the  Carolina 
dead,  who  fell  at  Gettysburg,  from  their  stranger 
graves  to  be  re-interred  with  solemn  ceremony  in 
our  own  Magnolia  Cemetery,  where  each  year, 
patriotic  love  wreathes  their  graves  with  tribute 
flowers.  It  was  in  this  church  and  by  the  same 
sisters  that  the  Home  for  Mothers,  Widows  and 
Daughters  of  Confederate  Soldiers  was  estab- 
lished, to  send  forth,  as  it  has,  fifteen  hundred  of 
its  pupils,  prepared  to  meet  and  overcome  the 
difficulties  which  confronted  life  after  the  deso- 
lation wrought  by  the  War.  It  was  from  this 
church,  and  the  same  devoted  sisters  that  the 
funds  raised  before  the  War  for  the  beautiful 
Calhoun  monument  were  preserved  amid  all 
dangers  and  difficulties.  It  is  to  this  church, 
that  our  city  owes  the  beautiful  and  beneficent 
ministry  of  the  district  nurse.     It  was  to  this 


church,  that  the  Huguenot  Society  of  South 
CaroHna  was  first  organized,  and  it  is  to  the 
Huguenots  of  that  early  day  that  we  are  to 
refer  the  founding  of  the  South  CaroHna  Society. 
But  I  may  not  continue  this  rehearsal  without 
wearying  you.  May  I  conclude  with  some  lines 
written  by  myself,  for  a  like  occasion  in  my 
native  church,  in  explanation  of  the  propriety 
and  value  and  need  of  memorial  occasions. 

Oh  guardian  spirit  of  days  long  gone, 

Whose  fadeless  scroll  behooves  all  days  to  read, 

Who  wait'st  unseen  with  wayward  souls  to  plead; 

For  lives  of  those  of  old,  in  word  and  deed, 

Lift  high  the  veil  o'er  mortal  vision  thrown 

That  vanished  years  may  live  again,  again  be  known. 

And  our  dead  fathers'  virtues  name  our  own. 


COMMEMORATIVE   ADDRESS 

two  hundred  and  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 

the  founding  of  the  french  protestant 

church  in  the  city  of  charleston, 

"the  huguenot  church" 

Rev.  W.  H.  S.  Demarest.  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

"These  all  having  received  a  good  report  through  faith, 
received  not  the  promise,  God  having  provided  some  better 
thing  for  us  that  they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect." 

This  word  of  vScripture  so  summarily  complet- 
ing the  splendid  story  of  the  Old  Testament 
heroes  of  faith  belongs  as  well,  we  believe  with- 
out irreverence,  to  the  Huguenot  heroes  of  long 
after  generations.  The  spirit,  experience  and 
triumph,  the  incompleteness  and  the  surely  com- 
ing fulfillment,  are  essentially  the  same  in  Bible 
times  and  other  ages  of  the  onward  march  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  Today,  everywhere,  there 
are  men  and  women  and  children,  stewards  of 
the  oracles  and  grace  of  God  just  as  surely  as 
were  prophets  and  apostles,  and  somewhere  they 
are  suffering,  conquering  and  waiting  for  faith's 
sake  just  as  surely  as  did  the  many  unnamed 
heroes  and  martyrs  enshrined  in  this  great 
panegyric  to  the  Hebrews. 

In  the  long  and  distinguished  succession  of 
those  who  have  received  and  transmitted  the 
traditions  of  the  Church  of  Christ  through  good 
report  and  evil  report  none,  perhaps,  deserve 
enduring  fame  and  filial  remembrance  more 
than  the  sons  and  daughters  of  France  of  the 
days  and  after-days  of  the  Reformation.  To 
this  generation  as  to  every  generation  there  falls 
the  duty  and  the  privilege  of  honoring  the  many 


groups  of  leaders  in  the  world-movement  of 
the  Gospel,  and  of  deriving  anew  from  them  the 
direction  and  inspiration  which  they  have  be- 
queathed their  descendants.  To  some  comes 
such  call  to  ever  new  remembrance  of  the 
Puritan  and  Pilgrim;  to  some,  of  the  Quaker;  to 
some,  of  the  Dutchman;  to  some,  of  the  Presby- 
terian, the  Scotch-Irish;  to  some,  of  the  English- 
man, the  Anglican  or  Wesleyan.  To  you  and 
to  me,  with  a  true  body  of  brethren,  falls  the 
honor  of  ever-new  exalting  of  the  Huguenot  and 
ever-new  devoting  of  our  lives  to  his  ideals  and 
undertakings. 

Your  claim  to  this  lineal,  filial  honor  seems, 
one  might  say,  supreme.  For  here  in  Charles- 
ton was  the  first  Huguenot  settlement  on  these 
Western  shores  and  here  you  have  kept  alive, 
and  with  its  distinctive  characteristics;  the  one 
French  Reformed  Church  in  this  Western  Re- 
public. You  dwell  in  a  chief  place  of  the  noble 
tradition  and  in  a  rare  continuance  of  the 
original  life.  Nor  is  my  claim  small  to  a  part 
in  this  honorable  service.  The  early  Huguenot 
planting  in  this  country  in  which  I  have  family 
pride  was  an  enduring  one.  David  des  Alarest, 
leader  of  a  little  band  of  fellow-churchmen, 
came  to  this  new  land  in  1663;  he  lived  a  little 
while  on  Staten  Island,  and  a  little  while  on 
Manhattan  Island;  and  then  he  occupied  a 
patent  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Hackensack 
Rivers  about  fifteen  miles  from  Manhattan  in 
New  Jersey.  His  three  sons  established  their 
homes  on  the  several  portions  of  the  patent, 
and  at  the  central  home  of  the  three  my  father 
was  born,  the  line  unbroken  there  for  eight 
generations.  Near  Hackensack,  before  there 
was  a  Dutch  Reformed  Church  nearer  than  that 
in  New  York  and  that  at  Bergen,  New  Jersey, 


fifteen  miles  away,  the  original  David  des  Marest 
and  his  sons  and  their  few  fellow-families  founded 
their  French  Reformed  Church.  It  could  not 
last  long  with  its  small  French  constituency  in 
the  midst  of  the  larger  Dutch  population,  and 
especially  when  a  little  later  the  Dutch  Church 
was  established  close  by.  So  the  French  Church 
passed,  merged  in  the  Dutch.  And  the  French 
blood  was  with  the  passing  ge-nerations  more  and 
more  thinly  mixed  with  the  Dutch  blood.  And 
with  many  descendants  of  today  I  own  allegiance 
to  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  and  to  the 
Holland  Society.  But  the  French  name  has 
endured;  it  still  stays  on  the  old  patent;  it 
has  gone  widespread  throughout  our  land;  and 
the  French  strain  is  not  all  disappeared;  and  we 
strive  to  keep  in  spirit  and  life  something  of  the 
Huguenot  type  and  quality  which,  if  it  be  in  us, 
makes  us  in  so  far  worthy  of  the  name  we  bear 
and  the  faith  we  profess. 

My  first  word,  then,  tonight  is  In  Memoriam. 
You  call  this  a  commemorative  sermon.  Your 
minister  has  told  the  story  of  this  church,  of 
the  men  who  founded  and  preserved  it.  I 
could  not  deal  with  that;  I  have  not  known  it; 
nor  should  I  attempt  to  repeat  or  add  to  the 
story  if  I  could.  But  I  may  commemorate 
the  multitude  of  those  who  through  long  time 
and  in  many  lands,  and  widely  in  our  own  land, 
under  the  same  banner  of  fatherland  and  church, 
endured  hardness  and  kept  the  faith.  It  may 
well  be  said  of  them  that  they  received  a  good 
report.  For  even  in  their  own  generation,  and 
increasingly  through  the  centuries  since,  the 
thought  of  men  has  given  the  Huguenot  peculiar 
fame  and  admiration.  It  has  been  a  good 
report  through  faith  for  it  was  their  faith  that 
wrought  out  the  life  and  works  which  deserved 


such  good  report.  It  was  no  worldly  ambition, 
it  was  no  zeal  for  good  by  withdrawal  from  the 
world,  it  was  not  devotion  to  a  human  high 
ideal,  it  was  not  a  purpose  of  service  of  fellowmen ; 
it  was  faith  in  God,  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the 
vScriptures.  Their  good  report  through  faith, 
their  fame,  through  all  time,  is  born  of  their 
sufferings,  their  endurance,  their  martyrdom. 
The  story  of  sacrifice,  of  suffering  for  truth's 
sake,  of  heroic  stand  for  principle,  of  death 
chosen  rather  than  surrender,  is  the  story  that 
masters  men's  minds  and  hearts  and  is  written 
most  vividly  in  the  annals  of  a  nation  or  of  the 
world.  The  heroes  whom  the  world  honors  are 
supremely  those  who  by  faith  fighting  or  wait- 
ing for  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for  remain 
to  the  last  only  heirs  of  the  promise — the  thing 
itself,  the  rest,  the  peace,  the  freedom,  the 
homeland,  reserved  for  others  who  come  after. 
These  are  they  whom  we  call  great,  they  who, 
in  God's  name,  were  lifting  the  valleys  and 
leveling  the  hills-  of  the  hard  highway  of  the 
marching  souls  of  men,  that  those  who  came 
after  might  easily  enter  into  the  promised  land, 
and  find  it  a  land  of  milk  and  honey.  So  when 
God  has  provided  the  better  thing  for  us,  the 
liberty  and  the  prosperity,  we  are  unerringly 
taught  that  they  are  not  made  perfect  without 
us,  that  the  triumph  which  has  so  surely  come 
was  necessary  to  complete  their  conflict,  and 
that  it  ministers  forever  to  their  satisfying  after 
the  travail  of  their  soul.  We  are  unerringly 
taught  that  in  a  sense  they  are  not  complete 
save  as  we  give  them  the  remembrance  and  the 
honor  they  deserve,  as  we  enshrine  them  in  the 
memory  and  life  of  each  generation,  as  we 
nurture  in  our  souls  the  virtue  of  grateful 
understanding,   as  we  carry  out  the  work  they 


so  nobly  sustained,  as  we  show  ourselves  of 
the  same  mould  and  spirit.  The  noblest  monu- 
ment of  worthy  ancestors  is  noble  emulation  by 
their  descendants. 

It  is  a  long,  sad  story,  all  shot  through  with 
the  splendid  light  of  unquenched  faith  and  far- 
reaching  hope.  It  takes  days  and  it  takes 
volumes  to  weave  together  the  threads  of  that 
strange  story  running  out  from  the  valleys  and 
the  towns  of  fair  France,  to  picture  the  scenes,  to 
rehearse  the  names.  We  gather  up  the  history 
of  that  garden  land,  when  it  knew  not  the  day 
of  its  visitation,  in  one  vast  panorama.  The 
stir  of  Reformation  thought  and  spirit;  the  turn- 
ing of  men,  families  and  communities  to  the 
new  worship  and  the  open  Word;  the  challenge 
by  an  entrenched  church  and  by  a  despotic 
throne;  the  resistance  of  brave  and  devoted 
life;  sword  and  fire;  cruelty,  torture,  exile,  the 
waste  of  fields  and  homes;  the  pitiless  hurt  of 
children,  the  satanic  dishonor  of  women,  the 
lavish  murder  of  men;  the  faith,  zeal  and  cour- 
age of  God's  people;  the  strong  voice  of  unflinch- 
ing confession ;  the  flight  into  mountain  fastnesses ; 
the  far-hidden  assembly  of  those  who  sang  and 
prayed  and  listened  to  the  pure  preaching  of 
the  Gospel;  the  journey  into  foreign  and  far 
distant  lands;  the  seeming  triumph  of  persecu- 
tion; the  seeming  overthrow  of  the  Reformation 
in  France;  yet  the  victory  of  a  faith  that  over- 
comes the  world;  and  the  bequest  of  triumphant 
life  to  all  the  generations  since. 

I  want  to  speak  to  you  of  two  or  three  points 
where  the  Huguenot  has  commanded  place  in 
history  and  life. 

1.  The  National  Life; the  Depleting  of  France 
and  the  Enriching  of  America. 


Never  perhaps  has  any  land  more  plainly  or 
more  largely  depleted  its  life  by  its  own  wilful 
waste  than  France.  A  noble  race,  it  cut  out  by 
destruction  or  exile  its  noblest  part  and  debased 
its  less  fine  remainder  by  giving  rein  to  base, 
fierce  passion.  The  tens  of  thousands  on  tens 
of  thousands  who  went  out  from  their  homes, 
from  their  fertile  fields,  from  their  throbbing 
industries,  depleting  the  population,  still  more 
impoverished  the  virile,  noble  quality  of  the 
nation.  For  it  was  the  best  blood  of  France 
that  thus  poured  itself  out,  literally  to  lose 
itself  on  the  soil  of  the  fatherland  or  to  pulse 
abundantly  in  an  alien,  albeit  a  friendly  land. 
They  were  ministers  and  statesmen,  noblemen 
and  artisans,  merchants  and  manufacturers. 
Rank  and  wealth  were  common  among  them. 
They  were  pioneers  and  promoters  of  the  great- 
est material  activities  of  the  land.  They  were 
ardent  friends  and  patrons  of  education.  They 
were  leaders  in  serious  concern  for  the  public 
welfare  and  national  prestige.  They  were  men 
of  vision,  ideals,  enthusiasm.  They  were  lovers 
of  their  country,  patriots  of  the  finest  grain.  In 
them  lay  largely  the  secret  of  well-filled  treasury, 
of  a  noble  common  life,  and  of  the  national 
spirit.  It  was  no  small  drain  upon  the  nation's 
vitality  when  its  very  arteries  were  opened  and 
this  its  richest  blood  streamed  over  the  borders 
and  across  the  seas  to  mingle  with  other  streams 
in  new  commonwealths.  Nor  did  the  army  of 
exiles  go,  sorrowful  alone  for  the  loss  of  homes 
and  fortunes,  of  friends  and  even  families, 
perhaps,  but  keenly  sorrowful  too  that  they 
were  torn  from  a  land  they  loved,  from  a  national 
allegiance  precious  to  them  to  the  last,  sorrowful 
that  a  land  and  throne  that  had  nurtured  them 
had  turned  upon  them  in  bitter  strife,  and  cruel 


injustice,  sorrowful  that  fair  France  could  give 
itself  to  bigotry,  hate  and  torture.  France 
reaped  the  harvest  in  the  wrong  and  irreligion 
that  grew  apace,  as  well  as  in  the  lessened  pro- 
duct of  the  field  and  of  the  factory,  in  the  un- 
belief and  reign  of  terror  that  blackly  stained 
her  life  in  years  long  after,  in  the  enduring 
defects  of  an  impeded  and  depleted  civilization. 
But  the  happier  side  of  the  picture  is  this — 
the  enriching  of  nations  elsewhere  into  which 
the  Huguenots  came  with  all  their  genius  for 
national  life.  Into  the  countries  of  the  old 
world  round  about  they  went,  to  Switzerland, 
Germany,  Holland,  England;  with  that  we  have 
not  to  do,  save  as  many  made  Holland  or  Eng- 
land but  stopping-place  en-route  to  America.  It 
is  our  own  national  life  we  have  in  mind.  It 
is  a  surprise  to  some  to  learn  how  widespread 
were  the  Huguenot  pioneers  upon  these  shores. 
Here  in  vSouth  Carolina;  many  in  Pennsylvania; 
in  New  Jersey  on  the  Hackensack;  in  New  York 
at  New  Rochelle  and  New  Paltz;  in  Rhode 
Island;  in  Massachusetts.  Here  in  larger  num- 
ber, there  in  smaller,  they  almost  everywhere  by 
a  community  or  a  personality  touched  upon  and 
reached  into  the  forming  national  life.  With  the 
Puritan  in  New  England,  with  the  Dutch  in 
New  York,  with  the  German  in  Pennsylvania, 
with  the  Scotch-Irish  here  and  there,  they  made 
common  cause  and  entered  a  composite  blood. 
Nor  was  it  in  any  instance  a  strain  to  be  readily 
lost  or  dissipated  or  to  prove  of  less  moment 
than  the  other.  Far  more  than  in  proportion  to 
their  number  did  their  life  tell  upon  the  new 
American  life.  It  was  needed  to  soften  the 
austerity  of  the  Puritan,  to  enliven  the  steadi- 
ness of  the  Dutchman  and  the  German,  to 
broaden    the    devotion    of    the    Scotch-Irish,    to 


deepen  the  impetuousness  of  the  AngHcan  and 
the  Cavaher.  Beyond  the  well  known  leaders  in 
the  pioneer  groups  there  were  those  in  the  period 
of  forming  independence.  Laurens  and  Faneuil 
and  Boudinot  and  Jay  and  Hamilton.  Honor- 
ing as  we  do  the  elements  other  than  ours,  and 
those  others  in  which  we  have  a  part,  we  are 
impressed  with  the  singularly  unprejudiced  place 
given  the  Huguenot.  With  all  the  virtues  of 
the  other  races  there  always  urges  in  the  mind 
of  casual  observer  or  of  more  serious  student 
the  defect  which  invites  ridicule  or  rebuke.  But 
somehow  of  the  Huguenot  we  hear  only  the  good. 
Nothing  seems  to  rise  out  of  the  past  to  dis- 
courage his  lovers  or  admirers;  the  destructive 
criticism,  which  seeks,  and  often  successfully,  to 
shatter  our  happy  notions  of  men  and  events 
behind  us,  scarce  challenges  the  Huguenot. 
Nowhere,  I  am  sure,  in  the  early  days  of  our 
land  do  we  find  the  Huguenot  a  disturbance  or  a 
detriment;  nowhere  in  the  beginning  statesman- 
ship do  we  find  him  perverse,  narrow  or  super- 
ficial; in  the  large  life  of  today  we  like  to  think 
that  his  blood-bequest  is  still  one  of  the  strong, 
sweet  and  saving  elements  in  our  national 
character.  In  the  cultivating  of  a  virgin  soil., 
in  the  every  day  making  of  a  new  home,  in  the 
actual  welding  of  varied  people  into  a  new  com- 
munity we  find  him  everywhere  wise,  ready  and 
forceful.  The  liberty  which  is  the  keystone  of 
our  institutions  was  a  passion  of  his  soul  out  of 
the  price  for  it  which  he  had  paid.  The  righteous- 
ness which  exalts  a  nation  had  in  him  an 
impregnable  stronghold.  The  education  which 
claimed  its  immediate  and  enduring  place  beside 
the  hall  of  law  and  justice  and  beside  the  sanctu- 
ary with  God's  Word,  found  in  him  a  first 
creator  and  a  generous  support.     The  forming  of 


the  constitution  or  of  the  institutions  of  the  infant 
nation  could  not  be  wise  or  effectual  without 
the  idealism,  the  charity,  the  poise  of  the  elect 
Frenchman,  the  Huguenot.  And  as  the  life  of 
a  nation  is  more  than  its  organic  law  or  its 
corporate  institutions,  rather  the  life  of  the 
people,  his  rare  quality  was  rich  asset  indeed 
for  the  nation  that  hoped,  and  still  hopes,  to  be 
the  crowning  civilization  of  the  world.  And  as 
the  nation  today  is  facing  important  and  diffi- 
cult problems,  challenged  by  ventures  impetuous 
and  footish  or  shrewd  and  unscrupulous,  we 
covet  the  clear  wisdom,  the  brave  readiness, 
the  high  principles,  and  excellent  poise  of  this 
pioneer  stock. 

2.  The  Forsaking  and  the  Sustaining  of  a 
Church,  of  Religion. 

We  are  reminded  that  the  cause  beneath  this 
whole  story  is  religion  and  devotion  to  it.  The 
motive  which  started  a  Huguenot  people,  that 
separated  them  from  their  fellow-countrymen, 
was  the  fear  of  God,  the  call  of  faith.  Their 
activity  in  factions  of  the  court  or  on  the  field 
of  battle  was  but  accessory  to  this — neither 
political  ambition  nor  the  lust  of  war  was  the 
ruling  force.  As  the  rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic 
was  an  uprising  of  true  religion,  so  was  the  fall 
of  a  united  France.  The  zeal  of  the  Reformation 
rent  the  nation  and  made  a  new  Frenchman 
over  against  the  old.  Religion  was  worth  living 
for,  worth  fighting  for,  worth  dying  for;  its  call 
was  rightly  to  forsake  husband  or  wife,  lands, 
houses,  and  fatherland.  The  Huguenot  was  a 
protestant — a  protestant  against  a  church  gone 
wrong,  against  error  in  doctrine  and  life,  against 
the  slavery  of  the  mind  and  of  the  conscience. 
His  birth  as  a  Huguenot  was  his  claim  to  believe 
as  he  must  and  worship  as  he  pleased.     To  him 


the  essence  of  religion  was  not  the  form  of 
worship  or  of  the  Church;  it  was  the  soul's 
relation  to  its  God,  the  setting  of  the  heart  on 
Him  Who  is  above;  that  was  not  subject  to  any- 
other  man,  be  he  priest  or  pope.  Yet  with 
religion  thus  essentially  within  he  was  supremely 
zealous  for  the  united,  outward  worship  of  God's 
people.  Those  who  held  the  faith  must  not 
forsake  the  assembling  of  themselves  together; 
it  was  their  right  to  assemble  according  to  the 
dictates  of  their  conscience;  denied  that  right, 
they  must  gather  in  the  secret  chamber,  in 
mountain  valleys,  or  caves  of  the  earth.  Religion 
with  them  meant  a  newly  opened  Bible,  a  Bible 
rightly  and  frankly  interpreted,  a  Bible  in  their 
own  language,  a  Bible  in  their  own  hands — a 
proclaiming  of  the  truth  which  makes  men  free, 
of  the  Gospel  which  saves  the  lost.  Nor  did 
their  spiritual  principle  of  religion  or  free  prin- 
ciple of  worship  mean  enmity  to  or  neglect  of 
church  organization.  Gladly  would  they  have 
honored  and  remained  in  the  old  organization 
had  it  permitted  them  and  had  it  provided  that 
which  their  consciences  did  not  abhor  and  resist. 
They  were  not  anxious  to  depart  from  the  ancient 
boundaries,  thought  of  no  such  thing  at  first. 
But,  offended  by  the  mother  church,  unable  to 
secure  the  things  they  might  approve,  driven 
out  by  official  decrees  and  the  weapons  of  war, 
they  coveted,  and  counted  essential,  an  organized 
church  which  should  direct  their  order  of  wor- 
ship and  maintain  a  reasonable  and  just  govern- 
ment of  religious  affairs.  Thus  arose  the  Reformed 
Church  of  France.  It  was  natural  that,  with 
their  genius  for  liberty  and  their  new  grasp  of 
the  Scriptures,  the  Presbyterian  government 
should  have  been  chosen.  Doctrinal  standards 
and  dignified  liturgy  followed,  of  course;  formal 


congregations  and  fixed  sanctuaries.  But  the 
organization,  the  ministry,  must  be  purged  of 
faults,  of  crimes.  The  Huguenot  was  a  protest- 
ant  against  evil  in  high  places,  against  common 
sins  in  sacred  things,  against  a  priesthood  given 
to  extortion  or  uncleanness,  against  the  pervert- 
ing of  church  power  to  personal  gain  or  self- 
indulgence.  The  hands  must  be  clean  that 
touched  the  holy  vessels,  the^life  must  be  pure 
that  would  speak  the  oracles  of  God  or  lead 
God's  servants  to  His  holy  hill.  Nor  might 
even  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart  dare  stand 
between  as  mediator,  only  Jesus  Christ,  when 
man  would  find  acceptance  with  his  God  and 
win  salvation  in  the  only  way,  by  faith  in  Him. 
As  the  Huguenots  came  to  this  land,  they 
brought  this  unquenchable  ardor  of  the  faith.  They 
brought  their  church  and  their  minister;  they 
brought  their  pureness  of  the  Gospel  and  their 
cleanness  of  life;  they  brought  their  devotion 
to  the  Word  and  their  spirit  of  sacrifice.  They 
were  not  so  many  or  so  centrally  located  that 
their  racial  assemblies  could  endure  or  ought  to 
have  endured.  But  swiftly  as  their  language 
passed  and  their  life  spread  out,  they  entered 
into  any  near-by  church  of  the  Reformed.  The 
church  was  the  heart  of  the  social  and  civic 
life;  the  Bible  was  the  man  of  their  counsel  and 
guide  of  their  life;  the  minister  was  the  adviser 
and  patron  of  all  their  local  and  personal  affairs; 
reHgion  was  their  vital  breath.  My  own  ances- 
tors for  years  on  Sundays  travelled  their  fifteen 
miles  from  Hackensack  to  Bergen  to  worship 
in  spirit  and  in  truth ;  at  New  Paltz,  New  York, 
the  settlement  of  Beviers  and  Du  Boises  and 
their  well-known  Huguenot  fellow-patentees,  the 
church  records  pass  from  French  to  Dutch  to 
English,    the    language    changing,    the    religion 


never  changing,  the  worshiping  assembly  and  the 
membership  roll  the  very  life  of  the  developing 
American  people.  They  had  in  their  fair,  free 
land  the  priceless  privilege  denied  them  in  their 
fatherland,  for  which  they  had  been  willing  to 
sacrifice  all  they  possessed  and  life  itself.  They 
were  not  singular  in  this  respect,  of  course; 
largely  our  pioneer  peoples  were  those  of  like 
devotion  to  faith  and  church,  of  like  readiness 
to  pay  the  price,  and  some  of  them  of  like  suf- 
fering and  deprivation.  The  voice  of  the  new 
American  life  was  thus  of  no  uncertain  sound. 
The  years  have  passed  and  with  them  have 
passed  in  some  measure  this  spirit  of  supreme 
devotion  to  religion  and  the  outward  signs  and 
exercises  of  it.  Later  peoples  of  alien  sort 
have  played  their  part  in  changing  the  standards 
and  reducing  the  habits  of  religious  life.  But 
it  is  unfair  and  futile  to  charge  all  the  change  to 
their  account.  Straight  descendants  of  the  Puri- 
tan, the  Quaker,  the  Dutchman,  the  Huguenot 
are  conspicuous  enough  in  the  host  of  those 
who  count  the  Church  and  the  Word  and  the 
Lord's  Day  and  salvation  by  faith  a  very  little 
thing.  Perhaps  they  defend  the  new  aspect  of 
things,  their  new  attitude;  say  that  it  is  the 
right  standpoint  of  the  age,  the  position  properly 
advanced  from  the  earlier  and  more  primitive 
idea  and  habit  of  a  century  or  three  centuries 
ago.  I  cannot  feel  it  so.  I  cannot  but  feel 
that  the  great  religious  principles  of  that  earlier 
time  were  enduringly  right.  I  can  only  feel 
that  departure  from  them  is  a  decadence  of  life 
and  of  values  which,  if  continued,  must  in  a  few 
years  show  unfortunate  issues  which  we  as  yet 
scarcely  discern.  And  the  truth  comes  home 
that  what  we  do  not  have  to  pay  or  sacrifice 
for  we  value  less.     All  this  came  to  us  without 


slightest  cost  in  money,  toil  or  blood — the 
Church,  the  Word,  the  Lord's  Day,  the  faith.  vSo 
we  count  things  little  which  the  fathers  thought 
great  riches.  I  have  wondered  whether,  if  an 
alien  force  should  ride  into  our  land,  our  cities, 
our  villages,  forbidding  us  the  privileges  of 
religion,  men  who  now  ignore  them  would  not 
rise  in  new  spirit  to  defend  them  with  their 
very  lives.  It  does  seem  strange  that  any  man 
glorying  in  the  Huguenot  descent  could  with 
uplifted  head  and  open  life  cast  aside  the  very 
things  which  made  the  Huguenot  what  he  was 
and  which  are  the  citadels  of  our  pride  as  his 
descendants.  Everywhere  there  is  yet  the  multi- 
tude who  hold  aloft  the  ancient  banner  of  Church 
and  faith.     Let  us  be  in  the  van. 

3.  The  Making  of  the  Man,  the  Gentleman 
and  the  Christian. 

Speak  as  we  may  of  a  national  life,  speak  as 
we  may  of  a  church  life,  we  are  only  emphasiz- 
ing that  which  is  the  final  element  of  each,  and 
that  which  is  the  one  thing  needful  after  all, 
the  individual  man.  his  quality,  his  character, 
his  personality.  The  marvel  of  human  life 
with  its  many  races  and  its  many  millions  of 
souls  is  the  essential  sameness  of  each  with  every 
other  and  at  the  same  time  the  absolutely 
inevitable  difference  of  each  from  every  other. 
The  life  of  races  and  of  men,  we  believe,  in  the 
Providence  and  Kingdom  of  God,  is  going  on 
toward  the  perfect  society,  and  toward  the 
perfect  man.  In  the  age  of  man's  imperfect- 
ness  a  group,  an  individual,  stands  out  here 
and  there  in  nobler  mould  than  others.  The 
Hebrew  race  in  the  ancient  world.  These 
heroes  of  that  race  whom  the  writer  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  eulogizes  in  our  text. 
These  men  were  the  makers  of  the  best  national 


life,  their  exile  and  death  were  the  depleting  of 
the  chosen  people  of  God  yet  the  enriching  of  a 
far-flung  life — and  this  because  of  what  they 
were  in  themselves,  because  of  the  virtues  and 
nobilities  which  made  them  a  salt  of  the  earth 
and  a  Ifeaven  of  the  world.  These  were  they  who 
would  not  yield  their  faith  and  sacred  honor  to 
the  whim  or  the  perversity  of  apostate  king  or 
priest  or  people,  but  who  would  ever  renew  and 
sustain  the  spark  of  true  religion  and  of  Jehovah's 
church  in  a  crooked  generation;  and  any  spiritu- 
alness  or  righteousness  of  the  Church  in  the 
wilderness  or  in  the  promised  land  simply 
throws  into  relief  these  rare  lives.  After  all 
each  man  of  us  stands  for  himself  and  is  judged 
for  what  he  is.  And  we  set  before  ourselves 
the  ultimate  ideal,  not  of  vast  attainments  or 
vast  achievements,  but  the  man,  the  gentleman, 
the  Christian.  The  Huguenot,  with  all  his 
imperfection,  stands  out  second  to  none,  it 
seems  to  us,  measured  in  terms  of  life  and 
character.  To  commemorate  him  thus  seems 
to  be  but  the  rehearsing  of  virtues  common- 
place enough,  each  in  itself,  yet  a  calling  to 
remembrance  worth  while  perhaps  lest  we  forget 
the  things  that  make  life's  strength  and  beauty 
in  any  age,  in  our  own  age.  The  sturdy  quali- 
ties of  manhood  were  his;  industry,  thrift  and 
frugality.  He  led  the  earnest  and  modest  and 
simple  life — but  withal  not  a  life  of  dullness 
and  monotony.  He  was  a  man  of  ambition 
and  enterprise;  one  to  forge  his  way  ahead.  He 
had  the  endurance,  the  courage,  the  high  spirit 
to  press  on  into  the  wider  fields,  larger  activities, 
higher  attainments.  Nor  did  he  lack  the  intel- 
ligence and  skill  to  make  good  his  ambition, 
courage  and  industry.  In  his  veins  was  the 
blood  of  thinking  men;  a  quick  and  virile  brain 


commanded  his  ready  strength.  Then,  if  we 
allow  the  scarce  justified  distinction  between  the 
man  and  the  gentleman  and  permit  the  latter 
title  to  add  something  to  what  we  have  said  of 
the  man,  we  look  at  his  refinement,  at  those 
graces  of  life  which  some  may  tend  to  disparage 
but  which  are  such  happy  marks  of  highest 
manliness,  graces  which  we  so  readily  concede  to 
the  Frenchman  but  which  only  too  often  consist 
with  grosser  spirit  within.  The  Huguenot  had 
that  gentleness  which  strictly  means  the  gentle- 
man, which  is  more  than  an  adornment,  an 
essential  nobleness  to  which  even  the  Scriptures 
call  us — Be  ye  courteous.  And  with  that  quiet 
grace  the  vivacity  that  made  his  words  and 
manners  a  stimulus  of  good.  Then,  once  more, 
if  we  are  to  allow  the  scarce  justified  distinc- 
tion between  the  gentleman  and  the  Christian 
and  permit  the  latter  word  to  add  something  to 
what  we  have  said  of  the  gentleman,  we  look 
at  his  morality  and  piety — morality  without 
which  no  man  is  a  true  gentleman,  piety  with- 
out which  the  man  and  the  gentleman  so  unhap- 
pily tend  to  decay.  Honoring  the  Huguenot, 
we  tell  his  fidelity  to  every  trust,  his  staunchness 
in  every  duty,  his  brave  loyalty  to  principle. 
Pureness  of  life,  holding  the  home  sacred  and 
society  harmless,  was  acknowledged  of  him  by 
his  foes.  To  him  the  fear  of  the  lyord  was  the 
beginning  of  wisdom  and  the  keeping  of  His 
commandments  the  whole  duty  of  man.  He 
was  a  man  of  vision,  the  vision  of  Christ,  and  to 
it  he  was  not  disobedient. 

Such  manhood,  such  Christianity,  speaks  with 
vivid  force  to  our  own  day  and  life.  It  calls 
us  from  idleness  and  extravagance;  it  calls  us 
from  rudeness  and  vulgarity;  it  calls  us  from 
laxness  of  home  life   and  private  morals,   from 


unfaithfulness  to  private  and  public  trust,  from 
forgetfulness  of  God  and  independence  of  Christ. 
The  Huguenot  stands  before  us,  a  man  and  a 
Christian,  in  heroic  size,  a  personality  that 
beckons  us  on  to  spirit  and  virtue  and  high 
endeavor  like  his  own. 


DATE  DUE 


C*Vl.O»iO 


racuse,  N.Y. 
3ckton,  Calif. 


1    1012  00017  3031 


.^'^ 

